5 Tips for Promoting Your Business Live on Instagram + Facebook
You've made the choice to go live on Facebook and Instagram. That's great! But before you hit that "live" button, there are some things you should know. Do you feel like when you start a live you will....
Get no viewers
Forget what to say
Don’t have anything to talk about
Not gain any momentum from it
You are not alone!
Tell your audience beforehand
The first time you go live on Facebook or Instagram, it will be nerve-wracking. You'll be making a video of yourself that you won't be able to delete or edit, and posting it for the whole world to see. That's scary! But you can get used to it. There are a few things you can do beforehand to make the first time easier: First, tell people you're going to do this. People on social media are accustomed to being surprised by things, so they may not take kindly to your telling them ahead of time that you'll be posting a video. But if your friends and family members know about your plans, they can give you moral support and encouragement when the day comes. Second, get some practice. You might want to set up your camera in advance and try talking into it for a few minutes just so you're familiar with how it works and what it looks like from your end. You might want to try recording something else in advance, too--it can be helpful to record a couple of test videos before you go live for real. Third, think about how you want the video to start. This is an opportunity to engage the audience right away--to hook them with something funny or interesting or shocking
How to tell your audience to join your live:
Post a Story
Share a Tweet
Post on your feed
Update your Facebook Group
Share your live on reddit
Send a email out to your List
Make some notes for yourself
When you go live on Facebook or Instagram, it's a good idea to make some notes for yourself about what you want to do. If you are going live for business, then you will want to make sure that your feed is interesting enough to get people coming back for more. To do this, you might consider posting some pictures from behind the scenes or doing a Q&A session with your followers where they can ask you questions about what it's like working at your business or in your industry.
Tips for engaging with your audience on live
If you're doing a live where people are commenting (more on the workshop side of things) make sure to mention them by name and make them feel seen. If you want to learn how to engage with your audience on live, there are tips and tricks you should follow. Here are some of them: Make sure that you'll have enough time for your show. Sometimes it's best if you go live at a certain time, or if you give yourself a little breathing room before or after the stream begins. How many people will be watching? You can also engage with people in the comments section of your post. If you're going live to discuss a topic, it's helpful to have some statistics on hand. When talking about current events, it's helpful to have an opinion on what is going on. Even if the event has happened already, your audience might still love hearing all about it in real time. Hang out with friends who are also interested in the topic and have them come along for the ride! This can be a lot of fun as long as they aren't too distracting.
Gather questions before you live begins
Before you go live, maybe a few hours before, pop a question box up on your stories or in your FB group and get people to submit questions so you make sure you cover what people want to know! When you go live on Facebook and Instagram, you get to choose what you want to talk about. If you have something in mind, such as a new product or service, you can share it with your audience. One thing you don't want to forget is that you can use the live feature on Instagram and Facebook to gather questions from your followers. Before you go live, write down 10-15 questions from followers that you can answer during the broadcast. This will make your chat more interactive and engaging, and it will also give people something to look forward to. If someone asks a question, remember to tag them after answering it so they know they were mentioned. Reply back to everyone who comments during the broadcast so they feel like they have been heard.
Encourage people to share their experience afterwards and tag you!
Encourage people to share their experiences afterward —if they tag you, their posts will be linked to yours so that more people can find out about what you did and how it went! Although the first time you live stream on Facebook or Instagram can be a bit nerve-racking, once you master the art of going live, you'll likely never look back. You'll attract more followers, and—just as importantly—you'll have more fun engaging with your audience via these free video channels. Give yourself a chance to get used to it; take some deep breaths before you start streaming. Then give it a try, and see for yourself!
